Peer pressure
is the force that someone feels to behave or dress a certain way.A peer could be a friend, someone in the
community, or even someone on TV. You may experience peer pressure as you live
up to either the individual's or group's expectations or follow a particular
fashion or trend.

Where does
peer pressure come from?

Peer pressure may be present at school, home, or within the general community.
It can affect people of all ages and backgrounds. It may affect people in
different ways. Some of the ways it may affect you include:

Directly - You may experience peer
pressure as someone telling you what you should be doing. It may be a good idea
to talk to someone you trust if you feel threatened, are being hurt, or being
pressured into something you do not want to do. This may be a family member,
teacher, youth worker, or counselor.

Indirectly - Peer pressure may not
always be obvious to you. It is not uncommon for a group of friends to have
particular habits or activities that they do together. It may be that when you
are with a different group of friends you are unlikely to do those things. For
example, you may only smoke when you are with certain friends or you may be more
likely to study when you are with other friends.

Individual - Sometimes the pressure
comes from you. Feeling different from the group may be hard. To avoid this,
sometimes we do things to make sure we feel like the rest of the group. Moving
to a new area or starting high school may be scary. Often it means having to
make new friends and fit into a new environment. When we are feeling unsure
about ourselves we may be more likely to feel the affects of peer
pressure.

What can we do about it?

Here
are some suggestions that may help you manage peer pressure better:

Valuing common interests - Hanging out
with people who like doing similar stuff may help to avoid a situation where you
feel pressured into stuff you don't want to do. Being seen hanging out in the
cool crowd may not be as much fun as it looks.

Saying "No" - Having the strength to
say "no" may be hard. However, it may also feel good to stick with what you
believe in. Explaining to people in a calm way why you don't want to be part of
something may earn you respect from others.

Try not to judge others - If possible,
try not to place judgments on other people's choices. Respecting someone else's
choice may help them to respect yours. Try to remember that you don't have to
agree with their actions. Focusing on the reasons why you don't feel happy with
the choice may help you not to judge them.

Take action - Sometimes you are able
to tackle peer pressure because you are older or feel more comfortable in
your environment. Standing up for someone may help. Both of these are ways in
which you may be able to create a positive vibe out of peer
pressure.

Friends and Peer
Pressure

For each person,
deciding who is your friend or not, is a difficult decision. It might be
of benefit for you to develop some sort of personal grouping system of your
friends and depending on what group they fall into will determine how strong an
influence you allow them to have in your life. One possible classification
scheme might be as follows:

Not Your Friend - People you usually don't associate with
under normal circumstances.

Acquaintance -
This group of people includes those that you might see in school, but you don't
associate with out of school. You might occasionally cross their path out of
school, but you wouldn't normally seek them out.

Wannabe Friends -
These are people you might want to be friends with for some selfish reasons,
such as hoping to be more popular. People who fall into this category are never
your true friends because the foundation for the friendship does not have a
solid basis.

True Friends -
These are the ones in the small, close group of people that you confide in and
you know that they have your best interest in mind. The people in this group are
those whose influence on your life makes you a better person.

In groups of three,
discuss the following questions.Be
sure to bring up specific examples from Stargirl to support your answers.You do not have to write your answers
down.Your small group will share
your thoughts and ideas with the rest of the class.You will have 8 minutes to discuss your
answers and reach a decision about the questions.

Group 1 – Discuss the pressures at Mica High.What pressures do the students
face?How do

they deal with them?How does Stargirl react to these pressures?Why?

Group 2 – What suggestions would you offer the students at
Mica High with regards to peer

pressure?What would you tell Leo, Stargirl, Hillari, Dori, and the others?